Justice Games
by feeltheRUSH
Summary: YJ/HG crossover time. Rated for Swearing and Volunteering for Tribute!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: GUESS WHO STARTED ANOTHER FIC. Yeah, this kid. And it's almost a year since I started Shoot Straight for the Heart and I still haven't finished that. Who's got focus? Not me! Weeeeeee.

And NO WITTY TITLE FOR YOU. Because, screw you guys, I suck at titles and this is straight to the point.

YoungJLi and apennyfarthing made excellent YJ Hunger Games videos on Youtube (SPONSOR).

_ONWARD._

* * *

**Justice Games**

* * *

Artemis startles herself out of sleep. She's tangled up in damp blankets, kicking clear of the snarls of her dreams. Growling, she shoves the coarse sheets off her legs, letting her feet dangle off the side of her bed. As she sits, her hands smooth her long, blonde hair into a ponytail with a stripe of green cloth.

Her stomach twists uncomfortably. She knows what today is. She knows, and she refuses to let it affect her.

She absently scratches her sister's cat behind the ears. The tabby purrs lowly, fixing Artemis in an amused green stare. "Who's a sweet kitty?" Artemis coos, a curl to the corner of her lips. The cat flattened her ears, looking severely at her human. Artemis smirks, sliding off the bed, pleased. "Good girl, Cheshire. A wise sister of mine once told me that in this family, it's every girl for herself."

If she's going to pretend she doesn't have an overdose of worry and fear coiling up in her insides, then she'd better get some work done. What _kind_of work varies from employer to employer. But in the greasy streets of Gotham, there's plenty of disgruntled crime lords who're looking for someone like her. Someone who doesn't miss.

Out of all the Cities of the Nation, Gotham City is easily the worst. Crime, corruption, and an irregular bus schedule. This place is a smog filled blot on the map, especially when compared to the shining Capital, Metropolis... where over a dozen of unfortunate kids will be shipped off in less than twenty-four hours.

Artemis winces, in the middle of clipping her belt buckle. She'd been trying to steer her thoughts away from the Reaping today.

On the rooftops, she glowers at the smoke rising over the horizon. Just like any other day, she's got a job to do. Mr. Dent won't let her use the Reaping as an excuse for missing her deadline, and neither will she.

"Going somewhere, Princess?"

Pivoting on her heel, Artemis notches an arrow in less than three seconds, the taut bowstring cutting into her cheek. "Show yourself. _Now_."

The shadowy figure melds out of the darkness. There's a smirk on Red's face as he passes her to put a foot on the low wall surrounding the rooftop. "Nice moves," he sneers, crossing his arms over his chest.

Artemis bristles, lowering her bow. "What're you doing here?" She declines letting the bowstring go slack, though. Today might _actually _be the day she shoots him. Since day one, it's been each other's goal to chaff against the other's nerves.

"Checking up on you," Red responds, shrugging. His eyes don't quite meet hers. And that's something she capitalizing on in a heartbeat.

"Bullshit," Artemis snarls, noticing and _loving_ the way he shifts uncomfortably. "You never coming sniffing around this part of Gotham unless it's the anniversary of her _death_-" Roy's head whips around, teeth clenched, eyes blazing behind his lightly tinted shades. Artemis' hands clench around the grips on her bow. But she's not done. Not by a longshot. "-or you need a favor. And you're not toting flowers for her grave, so it's the latter. Cut the crap and just spit it out."

He's trembling. He's trying not to showcase his weakness, but he's always been too easy to read. It's so incredibly pathetic and endearing at the same time. Maybe that was why Jade loved him. It was _ridiculous _how hard Jade had fallen, something Artemis vows solidly against ever doing. She pegs Jade's epic head over heels act as genetic hiccup inherited from their mother, since their father had abandoned them all those years ago and Paula _still_wore his wedding ring. But Roy's plaintive expression might be why Artemis feels inclined to release the tension on her bowstring and place a calloused hand on his shoulder. He was really warm.

"Red, what do you want?" She doesn't know his real name, not even after Jade disappeared with him all those years ago. He shudders beneath her fingers, muscles flexing, face contorting and tightening.

"It's... I... her." For a moment, irritation pulses along her veins, seeping into her pores. If Red was having girl problems, he _better_ not be crawling to his... whatever-Jade-was-to-him's sister. That was _asking_for an asskicking.

"..._Lian_," Red utters weakly, his voice too muddled by emotions for Artemis' liking. She's not good with words and emotions. She's better kicking in doors and shooting targets (people or otherwise).

"Uhm. Who?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: yessiree here's an update. probably the last one for a while. i'm dead set on finishing One in the Mourning and rewriting Shoot Straight for the Heart. Before summer ends.

Aim high, right?

_ONWARD._

* * *

**Justice Games**

* * *

Roy deserves to be shot.

After revealing his name to her (Roy Harper Jr), that damn idiot revealed _everything_.

Jade had left- not because she was out playing Daddy's Favorite, as Artemis had originally thought- but because she had been _pregnant_. That makes Artemis light-headed and off-balance. Jade _is_-... had been a _mother_. And never in a thousand years would Artemis've pegged her sister for the motherly type. But, as she adjusted her niece's slender hand in her own, Artemis figured she might as well accept the fact that the dark-eyed child bouncing beside her was Jade's one and only daughter.

-

After Artemis finished off delivering a "two-faced coward" to a crime lord named Dent, she made her way over rooftops, carefully considering everything she knew about her sister, one piece at a time, chewing it slowly, digesting with care. When she arrived home, she slipped a considerable wad of cash underneath the mattress of Jade's old bed. If Artemis is chosen, she can count on her mother to find her little stockpile and survive.

Artemis tiptoed through the house, smoothing the stiff fabric of her dress as she went. She assumed her mother was holed up in her room, doing... whatever.

No such luck.

But Paula Crock was tenacious, even when confined to a rickety wheelchair. She anticipated Artemis' move and had set herself up as a blockade. Artemis resigned herself to an uncomfortable grooming session as her mother fussed over her hair and clothes and shoes and posture. While her mom tugged out her ponytail, her sighed, lips pressed clothes. She would allow it, though, as a kind of parting gift. Her mom would only be able to watch the Reaping from the television, after all. Artemis hastily averted her angry gaze from Paula's chair.

"I don't want to go," Artemis said, edges of defiance rubbed her voice raw.

"Artemis." Her mother's tone held that undercurrent of warning that Artemis loathed.

"I could run. I could escape. Maybe the League w-"

"There is _no_ League, Artemis," Paula snapped. Artemis winced, and after a moment, she tentatively tilted her head so she could see her mother's face.

She was terrified to see tears filling up her mother's eyes, and immediately reached out to twine her fingers into her mother's, to loosen those clenched fists. Paula looked down, shame and humiliation sliding down her gaunt cheekbones, leaving wet tracks down her face. "... I've already tried. Don't make my mistake over again." Artemis nodded numbly when her mother raised her chin to pinpoint Artemis with earnest eyes, tears still leaking down her face.

Artemis' eyes unconsciously flickered down at her mother's useless legs, those shattered things that will never heal, then met Paula's gaze neutrally. "I won't, Mom. For you."

-

"Look, short stuff," Artemis flinches at how sharp she sounds and amends herself hastily, fighting to keep the unease out of her tone. "_Er_- Lian... you're gonna have to go check-in by yourself, okay? Follow all the people around your height, got it?"

Lian barely comes up to Artemis' chest, with dark hair that was already wild enough to identify her as a certified Nguyen and large eyes. The younger girl had stayed faithfully next to Artemis as per her father's suggestion. Roy is somewhere in crowd, separated from all the potential tributes, no doubt fretting over his baby girl. If Artemis is honest, she's a little freaked out on Lian's behalf too. Artemis has seen the Games every single year. They're bloody, they're brutal, and they're no place for Lian.

"Why do people play the Games?" Lian asks, turning her intelligent eyes on Artemis, in barely a whisper.

Even so, Artemis hushes her immediately, "Go check in, Lian. Auntie Arty will find you afterwords. Then you and Re- Daddy will take you home. You can pester him and demand piggyback rides and all that good stuff."

"I have asked Daddy and he says it's all bullshi-" Lian begins again, undeterred. Artemis claps a hand over Lian's mouth, pulling the girl in for an awkward hug.

"Lian, I love you, you seem like a smart kid. But now's not the time to talk, now's a time to be quiet," Artemis says breezily, eyes darting every which way. A small bubble of tension releases as she sees no Peacekeepers nearby. Talk like that could get Lian and Roy and _Artemis_ in trouble. And Artemis has no plans on getting killed because of some tiny loudmouth with no filter.

Lian nods against her hand, exhaling slowly, accepting Artemis' words. Kneeling down, Artemis places two hands on Lian's shoulders, eye to eye. "Uhm, look Lian. I picked this up from Haly's. Thought you might like it. It's... supposed to keep you safe. Connect you to the good people of Gotham." Artemis folds a golden pin into Lian's tiny hand, wishing she had something better to give. There are so few good people in this starving place. There are so few good people in this insane world, where kids were set to kill each other. Artemis presses a kiss to the crown of Lian's head, before ushering the small girl off with a brief squeeze.


End file.
